National Museums Liverpool Blog - Friday, May 29, 2009

Helen Halliwell and Emma Martin installing the new display of contemporary netsuke at World Museum Liverpool

One of the real privileges of my job is being able to see some of the behind the scenes work that goes into the creation of museum displays, the sort of things that most people take for granted. For example, not many people know that every single display stand supporting artefacts in our venues has been individually made by the highly skilled people in the technical services department, based in the National Conservation Centre. They don't just buy shelves and supports from the DIY stores, they hand craft every single display stand to suit the specific needs of the object it will be supporting.

The newest member of the team, Helen Halliwell, got to see her first major project go on display today. Helen worked with senior technician Bill Sillitoe to make a display stand for the World Cultures gallery at World Museum Liverpool to show contemporary netsuke figures. The smart circular stand has brushed Perspex shelves on both side to display the tiny figures from the Jonas Goro Gadelius collection, which was kindly donated to the museum by his widow Gabita. The really clever part is that it has a removable coloured disk in the middle, so when the display is refreshed each year to show different netsuke figures, it will be easy to change from its current red to a different colour that will suit the new figures.

You can see more photos of the installation in our netsuke display set on Flickr

Night At The Museum 2 poster

Those nice people at ODEON Cinemas have given us some even nicer prizes to help mark the opening of the second Night At The Museum movie - Battle of the Smithsonian. We've got tickets to your local cinema, a telescope, night vision glasses, a torch and lots of other goodies to give away.

To be in with a chance of winning these all you have to do is sign up for our email updates here. For the next few months we'll be having monthly draws for free tickets, and at the end of the promotion one name will be drawn to receive the telescope and other bits. The first draw takes place this coming Monday.

There's more information, including terms and conditions, on our main site.

The hastener

I was never caned at school but was threatened with it on one occasion for failing to whiten my pumps for PE. Another time the class bully - a hefty blonde - flicked ink at me. I told the teacher who sent Muriel to the female deputy head for two strokes on each hand. Muriel was as nice as pie to me after that.

Life for the ordinary seaman on sailing ships was hard with poor food, atrocious living conditions and frequently diabolical weather. There was also very harsh discipline to make sure crew members literally “toed the line” – believed by many to be a seafaring expression referring to the lines created by deck planks.

Captains ordered wrongdoers to be flogged. This involved the culprit being whipped on the back, usually with a cat o’ nine tails – a whip with nine thongs or tails. Very young seafarers were flogged with a lighter model with just five tails known as a boy’s cat. It was administered on the bare backside while the culprit was “kissing the gunner’s daughter” (bending over a cannon). The cane was also used but rarely on the hand, as this could hinder the victim when hauling ropes or doing other work.

One of the most feared punishments in the Royal Navy was being flogged around the fleet. The total amount of lashes was divided by the number of ships in port. The offender was rowed between each ship for the crews to witness his punishment. The gravest offences – such as sedition and mutiny – could attract a sentence of hundreds of lashes. However, a surgeon was present and could stop the flogging if it endangered the culprit’s life. A tally was kept of how many lashes were still to be carried out. Once the wounds had healed, the floggings would be resumed. As a result, sentences often took months or years to complete.

The ultimate punishment was execution by being hanged from the yardarm, again witnessed by the crew.

Apart from formal punishments, crew members were often thumped and hit as a matter of course.

In Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Life at Sea gallery there is a hastener from about 1877. These were applied by bo’suns (boatswains - junior officers) to keep crews in order. This hastener on display was used on the iron ship Eulomene of Liverpool. It is made of cane with the end formed into a Turk’s head knot. It is more than 18 inches long and as thick as a man’s thumb.

A new Maritime Tale by Stephen Guy appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo. A paperback – Mersey Maritime Tales (£3.99) – is available from the museum, newsagents, bookshops or from the Mersey Shop website (£1.50 p&p UK).

Civic welcome in Bursa, Turkey

Hello there

As you can see from the photo, I've been travelling again, this time to Bursa in northwestern Turkey, a three hour plus minibus ride (plus a ferry crossing) from Istanbul. The reason for this exciting venture was that the International Slavery Museum had been shortlisted for the very prestigious European Museum of the Year Award, awarded by the European Museum Forum to a museum which offers an excellent example of innovation in museums.

Well I will not keep you in suspense; we did not win the top prize, which went to Salzburg Museum in Austria. There were also three museums who were specially commended, one of which, the Museum of Life Stories in, Speicher, Switzerland I thought particularly worthy. The artist involved in the project, HR Fricker, explained to me that in the public areas of a home for seniors, their lives are shown around them, through exhibits and documentation. This might well challenge people's view of what a museum is, which I think is a good thing. Of course I was disappointed at not even having been commended (by the amount of people who came up to me afterwards I think we were one of the favourites) but if success is also measured by fellow museum professionals wanting to work with you in the future, then the trip was well worth it. 

The judges' report noted that although the International Slavery Museum includes an enormous amount of information and emphasises the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade, the museum tried to tell too many stories. I do not believe we tell stories as such. We offer narratives of events which you can follow, sometimes chronological, sometimes thematic but we do not claim to be storytellers. What we do is connect the many aspects of transatlantic slavery - the trading, the traders and the enslaved Africans - into what we believe is a medium in which all types of visitors can relate. In the past European involvement in transatlantic slavery was often seen in an overtly economic sense, the museum has moved on from this and looks at the broader picture, including contemporary legacies of slavery. I don't expect everyone to agree with how we do this but it should not be assumed that this is common practice.

It is hard to be too disappointed though in a lovely place like Bursa, where the civic welcome was a sight to behold, with a number of traditional dances performed for us outside Bursa City Museum. Bursa is often called 'Yeşil Bursa' ('Green Bursa') in reference to its parks, gardens and surrounding forests. The rather large group of museum professionals (not sure what you call this, a pride, shoal etc? Answers on a postcard) were taken on a number of excursions, which to be honest were a bit too organised for my liking. I like to think of myself as a bit of an independent traveller (I am probably more Louis Theroux than Paul Theroux to be honest) but our every step was marshalled like a state visit. I have to say I think being followed by an ambulance at all times was a step too far, I mean, how rowdy can a group of museum professionals be!

One of the most beautiful sites was the aptly named 'Green Mosque' or 'Yesil Cami' with its fabulous carved marble doorway surrounded by some lush gardens. Also on the itinerary was a visit to several mausoleums of early Ottoman rulers, again in some very tranquil surroundings. An interesting afternoon was also had at the Karagöz Museum, which looks at the lives of famous Turkish shadow play characters who lived in Bursa. Think 'Punch and Judy' with dragons thrown in.  

For those of you who think that travelling to exciting and interesting locations as part of my job is totally stress free, think again. Especially when speaking of food – as a vegan it can be challenging when abroad. This turned out to be the case in Bursa, home of the İskender kebab (it takes its name from its inventor, İskender Efendi, who lived in Bursa in the late 19th century). Lets just say that there is not much for a vegan to look forward to at an Iskender restaurant! At least my hopes were not dashed, as they were at the main award ceremony dinner where I was eagerly awaiting my 'special salad' - as one of organisers called it. What exciting Turkish influence on the drab salad this could be I thought. Lettuce on a bed of lettuce is not my idea of special but maybe I was looking to be critical after we failed to win anything!

Bye for now.

The Liverpool Daily Post launched a survey yesterday asking people to vote on which Liverpool personalities should be included in the Liverpool Map.

Could Billy Fury be your choice to represent Liverpool music on the map?

Readers have already been involved by submitting their opinions on which places should be included in the map, and the public have recently provided examples of their handwriting for inclusion in a community layer of the map.

People now have until Sunday 31 May to visit the Daily Post website to take part in the survey to find out which people they feel best represent the city in fields including the arts, music and sport.

These names will then form the final layer of the Liverpool Map, which will stand in the People's City gallery of the new Museum of Liverpool when it opens in 2010.

For inspiration, why not visit The Beat Goes On exhibition at World Museum Liverpool to find out more about the musical acts that have made an impact on Liverpool's history.

Click here to find out more about the Liverpool Map and its unique structure and creation.

Press Officer Ed Casson has been getting up close to a new installation at the Walker - read on to find out what he's been up to...

Sit on some art today!

Visitors to the Walker Art Gallery are being encouraged to take a seat to enjoy art. Six unusually-designed chairs have been placed in Room 15 for people to sit on and admire, and I was one of the first to try them out. The installation is titled ‘Sitting On Art’ and the chairs can be freely moved around the room.

Designs include Harry Bertoias’ uncomfortable-looking wire diamond chair (cushions definitely needed for any sustained sitting), Verner Panton’s 1960 blue plastic chair (the first design for a plastic chair that could be made by injection moulding in a single piece) and the 1988 Dr Glob chair by Philippe Starck (which simply has front and back legs of different sizes).

Each design is famous and unique in its own right, reflecting the designers breaking free of the past and using up-to-date techniques and materials, such as tubular steel, plywood and plastics. The chairs are not the date of their design, but quite new. Some are reproductions, others have never gone out of production. That is why they are art you can sit on.

My personal favourite is the blue plastic chair, although I wouldn’t advise any adults to take a seat on its little brother (I foolishly did) which is also on display and clearly designed for children.

Sitting on art is one thing, breaking it is definitely another.

Carving of Marco Polo's head

I grow my own rhubarb and am a strong believer in its health-giving properties – as was the great Venetian explorer Marco Polo who is credited with introducing the sweet vegetable to Europe from China. Just simmer the chopped stalks for about 10 minutes in water with a spoonful of sugar, put in a bowl with some of the liquid, add dried mixed fruit, let it cool then add some natural yoghurt – delicious.

Liverpool’s initial prosperity was built on the successes of shipping lines with fleets of sailing ships. It took several decades for steam to become the dominant source of power. One of the most successful of all the sailing ship lines was Black Ball with its emigrant packets on the Australia run.

The Black Ball Line was started in 1852 by James Baines of Liverpool. Baines operated a regular service between the port and Australia, principally Melbourne. Black Ball packets were renowned for their fast voyages. The company captured much of the emigrant trade during the Gold Rush years between 1851 and the late 1860s when the Australian state of Victoria dominated world gold output.

The new emigrant gallery at Merseyside Maritime Museum features an exhibition model of the renowned Black Ball ship Marco Polo. Built in 1851, she made record-breaking voyages to Australia. The model shows the ship refitted for the emigrant trade.

Two richly-coloured replica stern carvings from the Marco Polo show him wearing 19th century Western and Eastern dress. In reality, he lived between 1254 and 1324.  One of the life-sized figures (pictured) shows clean-shaven Polo in a green frock coat, plumed hat and black boots. In the other he is bearded and sports traditional Eastern headgear and matching blue, pink and gold gown.

There is a picture model of another Black Ball three-master, Indian Queen, depicted with pennants flying.  The model belonged to Capt John McKirdy, of the Isle of Bute, Scotland, master of the ship 1854 – 5.

A fearsome Bowie knife is inscribed with the name of the infamous Black Ball Capt James Nichol Forbes. He was known as “Bully Forbes” because of his harsh treatment of both passengers and crews.

A major competitor of Black Ball was Pilkington and Wilson’s White Star Line (predecessor of the later Titanic line). The White Star was an emigrant sailing ship between Liverpool and Melbourne. A pair of binoculars, dating from about 1860, came from the White Star when Captain T Kerr was in command.

A new Maritime Tale by Stephen Guy appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo. A paperback – Mersey Maritime Tales (£3.99) – is available from the museum, newsagents, bookshops or from the Mersey Shop website (£1.50 p&p UK).

The High Victorian room at the Walker

Here's the last review of our venues written by visiting art historian Eleanor Beyer from the British Museum's conservation and science department. In addition to visiting the paper conservation department in the National Conservation Centre, Eleanor had a look round Sudley House and the Lady Lever Art Gallery. We couldn't really let her go back to London without seeing the Walker as well. Here's what she thought of it:

"After visiting the National Conservation Centre it was great to go to the Walker to see where the conserved pictures go – some to newly decorated galleries like the sumptuous Georgian style gallery (room 5) which was a perfect setting for the full length Gainsborough and Reynolds portraits. I liked the way Liverpool mixed old and new, with contemporary displays in some of the galleries and old masters in others. The High Victorian gallery (room 8) was also fun, with Edward Burne-Jones' (1833-1898) painting, 'Study for The Sleeping Knights', showing the knights asleep on verdant green vegetation, beautifully offset by the gallery walls.

Having talked to Nicky at the Conservation Centre I could imagine how varied working to care for this sort of collection is. Staff mentioned how complex managing the building can be as well, for instance retaining the past context of the nineteenth century building at the same time as making displays visually appealing to a modern audience. Although much of the building was changed in the 1940s when new galleries were added and improved lighting put in, the museum still retains its character. I particularly enjoyed the sculpture gallery which reminded me of the casts court at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where statues of similar style jostle for space with one another.

I returned to The British Museum thinking of how much galleries in museums have changed since the nineteenth century with better lighting, stimulating gallery events, and with a mix of - often abstract - contemporary art with older pieces. At the British Museum for instance modern objects were displayed next to ancient objects in a recent exhibition in which artists like Damien Hirst and Marc Quinn were invited to contribute. In 'Living and Dying' (Room 24, The Wellcome Trust Gallery) the display ranges from a nineteenth century death mask from the Indian Ocean to the recent work 'Cradle to Grave' (2003) which consists of lines of pills. Seeing both recent art work and old master's works offer a different visual experience and interest to visitors."